There comes a point when even a retro styled machine needs to be refreshed. The question becomes how to do it. To paint a scenario and stick within the Honda stable, imagine one day there is a retro version of the Honda Interceptor 750 circa 1983. It isn’t an unlikely scenario as that first Interceptor launched a thousand riding dreams and looked at the time like nothing else on the road. If that bike was given a retro treatment today, what would its refreshes look like? If continuous and sustained would they eventually make their way back to the VFR800 we have today? That is all a little too Days of Future Past. The point is that you can not refresh a retro machine in a new direction from what eventually came after it originally. In the case of Honda’s CB1100 retro flagship, the refreshing is best described as subtle – which is the best course of action. Noticing the differences is like playing that game on the back of a kid’s menu involving spotting the ten differences in almost identical images.
CB1100 – Can you tell the difference?
For 2017 the CB1100EX gets a gently re-sculpted tank, stainless steel spoked wheels rather than cast, led lighting incorporated into both the headlight and taillight, smaller and lighter mufflers, suspension improvements and a slipper clutch. Subtle but still an evolutionary improvement on a bike intended to evoke the gory days of 1970’s Japanese sport machines.
Now how about a 2019 VF750?